Roll Call: Raptors vs Pacers – Jan. 31/10

Bargnani - Got exposed on defense, but the further away from the rim he plays, the less effective he is. Seems like every one of his shots comes at the most opportune moments, 8pts in the first quarter to steady a sloppy start to the game was huge. That block on Earl Watson man-on-man was the result of some great hustle.

Belinelli - Not sure what that was, but it wasn’t basketball, and it hasn’t been since the Lakers game.

Bosh – 26pts 15rebs 7ast 2blk … Wasn’t playing great defense either, but that dunk over Murphy was epic.

Calderon – At this point, lets close the books on this once and for all: Calderon excels off the bench, but is average as a starter. That alley-oop pass he tossed Amir at the end of the 1st quarter was insane.

DeRozan – At least he put on a proper shirt.

Evans – Looks great in an earth tone cardigan and top.

Jack – Didn’t do anything spectacular, but did a great job of tossing that entry pass to Bosh in the post. Efficient on offense, scoring 16pts on 6-8 shooting, and kept the defense honest with great ball movement. True to form, he had an ‘And-1′ situation off the hop.

The more I look at what he brings to the court, the more I see a bigger, stronger TJ Ford. Both have that same aggressive style off the hop, and shoot well enough from the perimeter to keep the defense honest.

Johnson – Was a spark off the bench, again. The only thing he didn’t do was shoot well from the line. More importantly, he had only 1 foul in 20 minutes of play.

Nesterovic – Shockingly got some play against a team that likes to run a quicker pace, even more shocking was 6 points on 3-4 shooting in only 4 minutes of play.

O’Bryant – Bet he’s looking forward to Big Love tonight.

Turkoglu - He ran into Dunleavy’s elbow and fractured his face a minute into the game. Ball.

Weems – His shooting doesn’t make me as nervous as it once did; doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather see him put it on the floor and drive to the rim more often though. His production in a limited role is great to see – 13pts 6rebs 3ast, I really couldn’t be happier with the guy.

Wright – Played solid and in-control in extended play. When he doesn’t force the action, and hits his open jumpers, we have Bruce Bowen part 2 and the guy we all thought we inherited who defended the crap out of Melo in the playoffs.

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This I can explain. His low usage rate when he is on the floor minimize his impact on team stats, such as team O/D rating and even plus minus (since that stat also accounts for the other members of the rotation. However, when he is being used, his individual stats, or the stats that are only dependant on his contributions, he looks pretty good, pretty great even.

Basically, like what everyone else has been saying, it comes down to usage rate. Involve him enough in the offense and there's no reason why his individual efficiency won't be reflected in the team stats.

Now here's where you might say "but the raptors lose more when he shoots more than average, so the usage rate argument doesn't hold up". That's a fair point, but I would argue that Jonas often gets those extra field goals when A) the guards are putting up a ton of bricks and Jonas is cleaning the glass, or B) he's a last resort after its clear that the other scoring options aren't working. In both scenarios, the team as a whole is playing below average, so it makes sense that they would win a lower percentage of games.